Gay Groups Laud Settlement

Members of the University's gay and lesbian community said yesterday that they are pleased by an agreement to lease affiliated housing to gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples on an equal basis with married ones.

Last week, Harvard Real Estate (HRE), which manages the University's non-academic holdings, reached a settlement with a gay student and the Boston Fair Housing Commission to disregard marital status and sexual orientation in permitting the "domestic partner" of a Harvard affiliate to live in University-owned housing.

"The bottom line is to make access to affiliated housing fairer," said HRE president Kristen S. Demong. "That is our job, to make housing fairer."

Gay and lesbian student leaders said that despite reservations, they were pleased by the settlement, which some said would affect approximately 20 couples.

"There are still some technicalities to work out, but now the principle has been established," said Ian M. Tidswell, vice-president of Harvard University Graduate Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Student Society (HUGGABLESS).

In particular, student leaders criticized HRE for requiring couples to provide "proof" of their relationship.

According to Demong, HRE's new policy labels domestic partner as "couples with committed relationships for their mutual support and benefit. [Domestic partners] must interact as a family and share living expenses." And in the settlement, the University said it would ask domestic partners to verify that their relationships have been going on for six or more months with such evidence as joint bills or bank statements.

"It is an invasion of privacy, as well as unfair and insulting, to ask a gay or lesbian couple questions other than the same questions that are asked of married couples," said Cabot House senior tutor Roland L. Dunbrack '85, the HUGGABLESS president. "Gay graduate couples applying for [Harvard] housing should have the same rights as married couples," he added.

Dunbrack said that because the state does not permit same-sex marriages, Harvard should ask couples to sign a document testifying to their relationship, rather than seek financial information as proof.

The number of people affected by the settlement is unclear. The Harvard Housing Office previously set aside 1600 apartments for married student housing, said communications director Dianne M. Dyslin. She said these spaces will now be used for both unmarried and married couples.

But students and administrators said actual numbers are difficult to calculate because couples made up of two Harvard affiliates already receive housing regardless of marital status and because unmarried heterosexual couples with only one affiliate will also be eligible for housing.

"Although the number of couples affected is not huge, is not insignificant either," said Tidswell, adding that he estimated that between 10 and 20 couples would take advantage of the policy change each year.

But Patrick W. Santana, co-coordinator of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Caucus at the Divinity School, said he thought the figures would be much higher. He said he believed about 700 to 1000 gay and lesbian graduate students might fall under the settlement.

But Julie K. Schulman '91, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association, said she thought it would be difficult for those eligible to find out about the new policy. She said the wording HRE plans to use-replacing "spouse" with the phrase "family member"--is unclear and poorly defined.

Nonetheless, Schulman added that she predicted "a larger response than is expected if gay and lesbian couples find out" about the policy change.

Harvard's previous policy of requiring marital status as a prerequisite to housing violated both state and local law.

The Cambridge Human Rights Ordinance currently in force prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and marital status in real estate transactions, public accommodations, employment, credit and education, said Jan H. Platner, executive director of the Cambridge Human Rights Commission (CHRC).

But Platner said despite the ordinance, she knew of no complaints about HRE discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Officials at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Somerville Fair Housing Commission, where HRE operates some affiliated housing, said they also knew of no complaints.

Graduate student leaders said they hoped the University's action would inspire other groups to reexamine their housing policies.

Said Dunbrack, "Hopefully other institutions will follow Harvard's lead in living up to its anti-discrimination statutes."